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The Personalised Portsmouth Football Book

Recording the club’s most memorable moments using original, first-hand accounts from reporters of the time, the Portsmouth Football Book is a must-have for any Pompey fan. Things kick off during the early part of the 20th century, right up to the latest season.

Founded in 1898, Portsmouth has since been busy, racking up a whole host of titles and wins. Beginning in 1920, fans can relive the greatest moments recorded through rarely-seen coverage.

A Glimpse Inside…

Getting underway in 1920, things really get interesting 19 years later when the club won their first FC Cup – the last to be held prior to World War II. Beating Wolves 4-1, this book covers the game in depth, including 1949 and 1950 when Pompey won back-to-back First Division titles.

As you’d also expect, the most recent triumph – another FA Cup in 2008 – also features, along with all the exploits of club legends like Alan Knight, Jimmy Dickinson, Peter Harris, Duggie Reid and Jimmy Scoular.

Your Gift Personalised

The book is available with a variety of presentation options, with the recipient’s Name and a Message printed on the certificate on the title page.

All the articles are printed on luxury paper, produced from fully licensed scans from the original newspapers. The books are always updated with the latest season and bound by hand in a hardback book.

The binding process takes four craftsmen/women over an hour to create each book by hand. To make the books even more exceptional, there are special editions with extra personalisation, available below.

Personalisation and Cover Options

Some of the editions are available with colour content and pictures from 2006 onwards. As well as the original black and white content, editions offering colour content and colour pages will include the colour content where available.

Brown Leatherette Cover – A stylish brown cover with black and white original reprinted pages. Embossed with the “Decorus Venatus” emblem, Latin for the ‘beautiful game’, the cover can be embossed with the recipient’s name for just £5.

Brown Leatherette Cover with Colour – A stylish brown cover with black and white original reprinted pages. Embossed with the “Decorus Venatus” emblem, Latin for the ‘beautiful game’, the cover can be embossed with the recipient’s name for just £5 and includes colour content and pictures (from 2006 onwards).

Luxury Leather Cover – Available in three vibrant colours; Red, Black and Blue, you can choose a cover to make the book truly special and personal. This edition includes colour content and pictures (from 2006 onwards) as well as the original reprinted black and white content. The recipient's name is embossed on the book for FREE.

General Information

This Personalised Football Book is 'Tabloid' size 38 x 31cm, available in a selection of smart, high-quality covers. All reports in this book are taken from The Daily Mirror.

Your text will be made exactly as you have entered it, so please double check spelling, punctuation and capitalisation. Accents and other symbols cannot be used unless stated.

We operate Monday to Friday only, so weekends and holidays do not count in the production or postage timescales quoted.
Orders placed before 11am begin production that day, while orders received after this time begin the following day.
Orders placed on a Friday afternoon or over a weekend will begin production on Monday.

Production + Delivery

The majority of our gifts are made to order, so please allow time for the product to be made (produced)
as well as the time for delivery. The table above outlines our production time for both standard and urgent orders,
please add these to the postage lead time for an accurate idea of when you’ll receive your item(s).

International Delivery Leadtimes (where available) European delivery is available on this gift Delivery outside Europe (worldwide) is available on this gift

Enjoy a Newspaper History of Pompey Football Club

Portsmouth FC was founded in 1898. The original team included many players from the local Royal Artillery side, which had been forced to disband due to a breach of amateur rules. The experience of these players proved vital and Pompey quickly grew in strength. Portsmouth reached the final of the FA Cup in 1929 and 1934 before winning the trophy in 1939. Pompey went on to win two consecutive First Division titles in 1949 and 1950, consolidating the club’s position at the top of the game. Unfortunately, the title-winning side began to break-up due to aging players. Bad management then destroyed Pompey’s form even further. Portsmouth eventually fell all the way down to the Fourth Division. After watching the team struggle for so many seasons, the club’s fans enjoyed watching Pompey begin to win again and they embraced the opportunity to visit new grounds. Portsmouth finally returned to the top flight in 1987. Pompey was promoted to the Premiership for a longer stay in 2003. More recent success has included winning the FA Cup final against Cardiff City in 2008. This victory meant that Pompey would play European football for the very first time in the following season.

Personalised Portsmouth Football Books - Inspired Gifts

A Portsmouth Gift Book can be an inspired present for a Pompey fan. It is unique, smartly presented and filled with fascinating newspaper reports on the history of the club. Being able to personalise this Portsmouth Book makes the gift even more special and shows the thought that has gone into buying it. The present will also prove to be a terrific addition to a supporter’s Portsmouth memorabilia collection.

Portsmouth Football Book Coverage

This Portsmouth Football Book opens with the club finishing as Southern League Champions in 1920. It goes on to cover a selection of great games through the decades of the 20th Century and many highlights from the present era.

Top stories in the Portsmouth Football Book include Pompey beating Preston North End 5-0 en route to becoming Division Two runners-up in 1927. The Gift Books also report on Pompey winning the First Division title in 1949, Portsmouth’s Jubilee year, and then again in 1950. The Portsmouth Books contain coverage of the FA Cup final games against Bolton Wanderers in 1929 and Manchester City in 1934. You can additionally read about Portsmouth beating Wolves 4-1 to win the FA Cup in 1939. Relive Pompey’s rapid rise from Division Three in 1983 to Division One in 1987. The Portsmouth Book also features the club’s promotion to the Premiership in 2003.

More recent coverage includes the resurgence of Portsmouth under Harry Redknapp, including the FA Cup final win over Cardiff City in 2008.

Newspaper coverage continues right up to the end of last season. This unique insight into Portsmouth’s history makes these books truly memorable gifts and a great addition for a collector of Portsmouth memorabilia.

Portsmouth Memorabilia

If you are a collector of Portsmouth memorabilia or looking for other Pompey gifts, why not consider our Portsmouth Calendar or Portsmouth Diary? Each month features a newspaper headline on one of Pompey’s key games. The presents can be personalised with the recipient’s name to make them even more special and both items make great gifts for Pompey fans. Other Portsmouth presents include Framed Newspaper Reprints and unique Pompey T-Shirts.

Finally – Did You Know?

Portsmouth’s first manager was Frank Brettell. He still holds the managerial record for the highest winning percentage of games at the club. (63.64%)

Over the past twenty years, Pompey has fielded International players from countries such as Jamaica, Croatia, Japan, Slovenia and Serbia and Montenegro.

Portsmouth is affiliated to Havant and Waterlooville FC.

David James was voted Pompey’s all-time best goalkeeper in 2008.

The number 12 shirt has been retired at Portsmouth, as the’ twelfth man’ is considered to be the fans position.